Learner driver was drunk

Court reporter

A learner driver almost twice the drink-drive limit had a passenger beside her who was so boozed up he was "messing about" and wasn't fit to supervise her, a court heard.

Tracy Rose (38) who already had six points on her licence, was not insured. She was pulled up by the police in Burnley after stalling twice in the middle of the road, almost causing a crash and nearly hitting a wall. Rose blew 61 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath - the legal limit is 35.

Magistrates in Burnley were told Rose, who was lost, wasn't displaying L-plates on the Ford Mondeo and the windows were so steamed up it would have been difficult to see anything out of the vehicle. The car, which belonged to her father, was seized after the early hours trouble in the town last month.

Rose, of Digby Road, Rochdale, admitted driving with excess alcohol on Healeywood Road, Burnley, not having valid insurance and not having a valid licence, on February 25th. She was fined £140, with £85 costs and a £30 victim surcharge and was banned for 17 months.

Prosecutor Miss Charlotte Crane told the court that at 1am police on duty in a residential area were behind a black Ford Mondeo, which was being driven "strangely." It stalled in the middle of the road at one point and the windows were all steamed up. It set off again, went extremely close to a wall and then stalled again, forcing an oncoming car to have to stop to avoid a collision.

Rose was stopped, the officers immediately smelled alcohol on her breath and she told them she had had two glasses of wine about four hours earlier.

MIss Crane added: "They spoke to the passenger Ben Swainston. He was heavily under the influence of alcohol. He said 'I didn't know she had a provisional licence. I'm in no state to supervise anybody.'"

The prosecutor said the defendant did have an insurance policy for a learner driver, which stated she had to be under the supervision of somebody who had a full driving licence and was not under the influence of alcohol. She had not been displaying L-plates. The policy did not cover a provisional licence holder who had any points and Rose had six.

The hearing was told Rose was given six points on her licence in her absence in March last year, for no insurance.